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Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell (Tim Scott), moves in to flank them. As the unit advances
to battle, Reynolds is shot and killed by a Confederate soldier. The Union army is
forced to retreat to Cemetery Ridge. Longstreet suggests that Lee and his army go
on the defensive, but instead, Lee asks Ewell to secure the Union position “if prac-
ticable.” Ewell expresses some uncertainty, and the armies consolidate their for-
mations. At Confederate headquarters at Seminary Ridge, Maj. Gen. Isaac R. Trimble
(William Morgan Sheppard) criticizes Ewell’s hesitation to Lee’s direct order and
asks to be reassigned. On the second day (2 July), a brigade from the Union V Corps
led by Col. Strong Vincent (Maxwell Caulfield) is sent to Little Round Top, and
the 20th Maine and Chamberlain position themselves in wait for the Confederate
forces. Lee meanwhile commands Longstreet to send men to capture Little Round
Top and Big Round Top as well. Maj. Gen. John Bell Hood (Patrick Gorman), com-
manding one of the divisions, balks, telling Longstreet he will lose half his men if
ordered to attack the well- defended high ground. Longstreet ignores Hood’s sug-
gestion and moves forward with the attack, and Hood sustains injuries while
fighting at Dev il’s Den. Meanwhile, at Little Round Top, Chamberlain and the
20th Maine repel repeated attacks but begin to run out of ammunition. Improvis-
ing, Chamberlain surprises the Confederates and forces them to retreat down the
hill. That eve ning, Lee’s cavalry commander, Maj. Gen. J.E.B. “Jeb” Stuart ( Joseph
Fuqua), arrives on the battlefield. At the same time, Longstreet’s remaining divi-
sion, under Maj. Gen. George Pickett (Stephen Lang) reaches the field. On the third
day (3 July) of the battle, Lee decides to order three divisions— led by Pickett, Trim-
ble, and Brig. Gen. J. Johnston Pettigrew (George Lazenby)—to conduct a frontal
assault on the center of the Union line at Cemetery Ridge. Longstreet tells Lee he
thinks that the attack will fail; there is a mile of open ground to cross under massed
artillery fire and the Union’s II Corps’ 10,500 riflemen under Maj. Gen. Winfield
Scott Hancock (Brian Mallon) are deployed behind a stone wall. Nonetheless Lee
orders the attack to go forward, preceded by a protracted artillery barrage intended
to silence the Union guns on the ridge. Though the Confederate batteries com-
manded by Col. E. Porter Alexander ( James Patrick Stuart) fail to make any appre-
ciable impact on the Union guns, the attack proceeds as planned. The Confederates
who survive the withering artillery fire and reach the Union lines are mowed down
by point- blank volleys of cannon grapeshot and musket fire. Pickett’s decimated
division is forced to retreat. Meeting with Longstreet that eve ning, Gen. Lee decides
to withdraw the remnants of his shattered army. The film ends by recounting the
fates of the major figures of the battle.
Reception
Released on 8 October 1993 in 124 theaters (widest release: 240 theaters), Gettys-
burg grossed $10.7 million— very respectable box office returns for a small- scale
release that featured a limited number of daily screenings (a film lasting four hours
and eight minutes plus an intermission could only be screened once or twice a day).
Despite strong sales in the video market after its theatrical run, Gettysburg still failed
to earn back anywhere its $20 million production cost. Reviews were mixed. Even